Cheddar

Cheddar is a cheese with history as far back as 12th Century England. It was first created in the Somerset area and named after the town of Cheddar. The Gorge and caves of the area offered a perfect environment for storing and aging cheese. The West Country Cheddars are protected with the UKGI designation (before leaving the EU, the designation was PDO). Richard Green, Cheese Grader in England, wrote an excellent book about the The Last West Country Cheddar Cheese Makers and I highly recommend it. I interviewed Richard in 2012 and you can read the interview here. You should also read Gordon Edgar’s Cheddar, an overview of Cheddar, focusing on American Cheddar Cheesemaking and history.

Today Cheddar has become a generic name for cheese made implementing the “cheddaring” process during production. It is the only style of cheese that incorporates this step.

Cheddaring occurs after the curd is separated from the whey. The curd is cut into large slabs which are stacked atop each other to expel more whey. Then the slabs are flipped and stacked again until the cheesemaker determines the amount of necessary whey has been expelled. This process is known as cheddaring. After cheddaring the slabs are fed into a mill and grinded into tiny pellets that are then scooped into moulds, pressed and aged. Traditional aging is done wrapping the wheels or tuckles in cheese cloth. Some cheesemakers wrap in cryovac. Either is acceptable.

In 1851, the first industrial cheese manufacturing plant was built in Rome, New York and sadly, the reputation of Cheddar went to hell in a cheese basket. As more and more industrial cheddar was manufactured, the quality continued to decrease. As you might imagine English Cheesemakers were pissed. Their brand was being damaged.

Then JL Kraft invented Kraft Singles which he created to use the remnants of cheddar and mixed the remnants with a oil and a bunch of crap to create what became known as American Cheese. And the English became more incensed… who could blame them?

However, running parallel to the demise of Cheddar in the US were American Artisan Cheesemakers who produced quality Cheddars and began rehabilitating the name of Cheddar. Today, US Cheddars can hold their head as high as any Cheddar produced in England.

Cheddar is the second most popular style of cheese in the US, right behind Mozzarella (probably first because of the popularity of pizza). As a table or snacking cheese, it could be argued that Cheddar is the #1 most popular cheese in the US.

In 2017, with the help of several ACS CCPs, my website hosted 90 days of Cheese of the Days. every Monday was dedicated to Cheddar. You can find the featured Cheddars here.

My Cheese Refrigerator ALWAYS has a respectable selection of Cheddars and Cheddar-style cheeses. Right now, I have Cheddars from Tillamook, Cabot, Beehive Promontory, Flagship and Flagsheep, Fiscalini Smoked Cheddar just to name a few. I consider Cheddar the Work Horse of Cheeses.

Next up: Alpine Cheeses. Please check out my overview of Grana Cheeses here.

In addition to being a member of the Internationale Guilde des Fromagers (Jura and Garde) and an American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional, I am a Certified ServSafe Food Production Manager with certifications that also include ServSafe Certified Instructor and Proctor. I am available for cheese events, cheese program development, cheese training, food safety training and 3rd party food safety auditing. See my About Me and Resume pages for more details or call me at 360 921 9908 to discuss availability.

This post may contain affiliate links from which I receive a small commission from any purchases you make through those links. I thank you for patronizing my amazon influencer store front. 

Cheese events at Sweet Combs of Honey will begin again in the next several weeks. Enjoy your summer vacation!!

 

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